The “Marlboro Man” riding a horse in “Marlboro Country” has intrigued many of us. The very mention of “Marlboro” brings images of wide-open country vistas and tough men riding their horses into the sunset. A legend has been established and a myth created. Would you like to know more?

The "Marlboro Man" and "Marlboro Country" are today widely recognized symbols of American culture and commerce, both in the United States and around the world. They have been part of one of the longest running advertising campaigns of all time for more than 35 years, and they have come to occupy a prominent place in the global landscape of consumer products and fantasies.


Marlboro advertising always intrigued and mystified. The group of students set out to study the many aspects of Marlboro advertising on consumption and consumerism. After all, if the subject is interesting why not study it in some depth, thought the students.

The projects for the course engaged a range of issues and looked at cigarette marketing and consumption from both historical and cultural perspectives. The full text of one paper, "The Implications of Smoking Hazards for Cigarette Advertising" by Jessica Savage, is included as an example of how students made use of the Marlboro Advertising History Collection. Brief abstracts of all the projects and relevant images are organized under the following five topical headings: Cross Cultural Comparisons: How Global Ads are Localized; Cigarette Smoking and Women: Marlboro Gender Symbolism; Government Restrictions, Health Issues and Anti-Smoking Campaigns; Advertising Imagery and Consumer Perception; and How Advertisers Target Certain Audiences and Markets.

The Marlboro Advertising History Project was conducted between 1985 and 1987. The core of the collection is a series of 60 oral history interviews with Philip Morris and Leo Burnett (advertising agency) personnel, as well as photographers, production staff, and Marlboro cowboys. Twenty-seven of the interviews were conducted overseas, in Argentina, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Hong Kong, Switzerland, and West Germany. The interviews cover events from the 1930s through the 1980s, and focus on the theory and development of Marlboro advertising, its content and creation, and modifications over the years. The foreign interviews also discuss the structure of the local cigarette market, and culturally specific advertising and marketing techniques.

The collection also includes Marlboro television commercials which aired in the US between 1955 and 1971; Marlboro television commercials for foreign markets from the 1970s and 1980s; over 1500 slides and 400 proof sheets of Marlboro advertising from the 1920s through the 1980s; and a small body of printed materials, including copies of Philip Morris annual reports for the 1980s, and secondary source materials about Philip Morris, Marlboro, Leo Burnett, the tobacco industry and cigarette advertising and marketing.

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